When Nothing Seems to Matter Anymore
by Heart of Mako
Summary: After Lyla and Sirena leave her on her own, Nixie is on the verge of suicide. Not knowing this, Cam longs to pluck up the courage to ask her out to the end of year Christmas Ball, but things go terribly wrong and all the unexpected happens. A very short story. Cam/Nixie, hinted Rita/Harry. Rated T for near suicide. Lot better than the summary... I hope.
1. Chapter 1

A/N: This started out to be a simple one-shot idea, so I started writing it - but then it got insanely long, so I ended up making it a short story. Keep in mind, since we'll be telling the story with NIXIE AND CAM's thoughts on the other characters, not MINE. So there will be a bit where Nixie thinks of Evie as "fatty." And Zac is seen by Cam as a snobbish popular guy with a huge merman ego. So, just saying that so that you don't shoot reviews at me about how Evie is very skinny and kind, and that Zac is the best merman we could ask for as the main character. It's about time we saw things in Cam's point of view, right? And here's a twist for the plot - Nixie is making a point of 'not being herself.' You may find connections with this story to my other Cam/Nixie story, 'Forgotten', where Nixie is certainly changed from her mischievious self, but, to make this different I'm making it a bit more serious. Depression, suicide, so much pain that she can't stand being herself anymore. Enjoy, and review. :)

After the course of a whole year getting to know Nixie with much misfortune but at the same time, pleasure, Cam thought he could easily guess the sort of words that would be made out of her snide reply to his long awaited date request that he'd planned to offer to her about the end of year Christmas Ball that would be frustrating the minds of every seventeen year old student at SunCoast High, and all their friends outside school too.

It was just Cam's luck that right when he'd betrayed Zac and the trio of mermaids that Nixie of all people, was one of, his high school Christmas Ball would jump out in front of everybody and challenge both the lovable ones and the hateful ones about who was going with who.

Cam's ex best friend and merman Zac, had all the luck in the world when it came to girls - and as a result, he would by no doubt be going to the party with his hard-to-get girlfriend Evie. Evie had only just found out Zac's fishy secret (and you could compare her to a man eating shark moments after she had processed it in her mind) but believe it or not, she stayed on his side and embraced the cause of all the lies that had rocketed her far from her normal anger levels earlier on.

Zac always used to give Cam a hard time about his lack of eager girls, and he did try to use his best buddy's advice but it backfired as every girl who stepped one foot into Cam's zone ended up disgusted and left, not passing back so much as a kiss after the short lived 'relationship'.

However, there weren't many people who saw past Zac's handsomeness, social life and exploding ego, but Lyla happened to trip into his personal life in a failing attempt to 'become his friend to make him open up to her'. Instead, the whole act blew up into romance, causing hell to break loose with Evie still around.

Lyla probably wouldn't have wanted to go to the ball, as Evie had pushed her way back into the spot Lyla previously stole in Zac's heart and as a result, he lost interest and stayed with Evie. But Cam knew that Lyla was still a few notches above him with the whole romantic relationship business so he remained disappointed with his own failure.

Despite Lyla's tendency to go her own way and be alone, holding in her feelings until she was isolated, she still managed to be strong and stubborn with others, and she always seemed to eventually get to know people and be part of the crowd when it suited her.

She was a picture of what all girls wished they could look like, tall and with an amazing figure, striking eyes and full lips and shoulder length hair the color of honey - everyone always noticed Lyla, even though she could be quite a rebel and could win an argument with the toughest guy at school.

Then there was Sirena, who anyone could describe as a pocketful of sunshine - she was 'gorgeous,' (according to David), not to mention 'cute', and had long blond locks that somehow managed to be twisted into complicated braided hairstyles every day, her skin was flawless and her eyes were as blue as the ocean. She had a voice like an angel and sang all sorts of ocean related songs at the cafe, sometimes causing the audience to become silent in awe.

Sirena always seemed to be happy although she spent a great deal of time crying over the tiniest things such as Rita's cat Poseidon going missing, or if she couldn't make it to David's birthday party or anything like that.

David and her were a match made in heaven, and he didn't mind in the slightest that she refused to go close to the water at the beach or turned down his request for her to come and help make messy drinks at the cafe. Cam didn't even need to ask if those two would be coming to the ball.

The last girl in the group, Nixie, was nothing like her friends in Cam's perspective. She could be a mischievous little demon when she felt like it, deliberately sprinkling handfuls of pepper into drinks at the cafe, or pulling on land people's fishing lines so hard that they fell in, or harshly telling people to get lost when they came too close for her liking. In other words, Nixie could be really mean.

But she had other sides, that rarely came out but indeed did happen from time to time. Compassion was one, if she felt down herself she might go and tell Sirena she was sorry for eating her prawns or not feeding Poseidon when it was her turn, but the benefits of seafood was as far as she went as far as 'being nice' went for Nixie.

Also going on apart from her naughty, cheeky behavior, Nixie would never back out of a fight, especially with Lyla. She often tossed her long dark curls and tell Lyla that her chances with Zac were as slim as getting a chance to survive when a shark had your head in it's jaws, and then Lyla would yell back that Nixie never payed attention to the feelings of others, and that would start off a heated screaming session, and neither of them would ever win. It kind of always ended with Sirena pulling them apart.

In the romance department, Nixie didn't have much experience at all, and being a mermaid, had a go at 'being friends' with land people but it always backfired with them thinking she was just trying to hit on them with unfortunate results.

Despite her personality, Nixie was a picture of cuteness from the first sight - her looks were way opposite from Sirena and Lyla's, she had a mass of hair the color of dark chocolate and a pale white round face and wide blue eyes that were always framed with dark eyeliner and mascara that made her look undeniably beautiful, and her lips were pink and petite and she had three very tiny dots beside her mouth that completed her uniqueness from everyone else in Cam's vision.

Nixie was quite a short, wide person, but pulled it off with her curved body shape and pretty face - although Cam knew very well she was much more than that.

Unfortunately for Cam, he remained hopeless with the female of the species and his poor social skills gave him no chance whatsoever with the growing dream of his life - Nixie, who's face turned sour in disgust whenever she laid eyes on him.

Well at least she lays her eyes on me, Cam thought to himself bitterly. In his world, it wasn't much fun to be ignored, and it was even worse to be hated. He would have to go step by step to get back on her level and gain her trust once more. Not to give him merman powers, but to give him at least one dance at the Christmas Ball. Just one.


	2. Chapter 2

XxXxX

So Cam walked up to the cafe on a sunny Saturday morning, he only had until Sunday night to ask Nixie. (He felt like killing himself after leaving such little time left to make a move.) He decided he would make sure she was alone, and before asking her, do something heroic (what? Cam thought in frustration) to bring her trust back.

It wasn't like he hadn't tried before. The 'saving her tail in the cafe storage room' idea had already blown up in his face countless times when she spotted him shaking up her can of soda or buying her a juice that had a crack in the bottom of the glass. Even when he managed to get her wet, she took care of herself running outside rather than into another room in the cafe - she dived into the water before Cam could give her a towel and ask for a "thank you".

He also tried other things, such as helping her carry seafood back to Rita's or spray painting on the walls of the trident cave 'CAM DOESN'T WANT THE POWER ANYMORE' although he still did a bit on the inside now since Zac was being more hot headed than ever about his abilities, showing off powers by drinking water out of mid air or diving straight off the pier in Cam's plain view.

Cam knew he had to think of something fast, or his chances would be gone before he could even try. He entered the Ocean Cafe and scanned every table for the familiar brunette.

Miraculously, there she was, sitting alone at a seat all the way back in a dark corner of the room. It was a huge shock for Cam to see that she wore a stricken expression on her face, and tears shone in her solemn eyes.

Cam held himself back for another couple of moments, standing awkwardly in the center of the room as he kept a watchful eye on Nixie.

He stumbled upon being shoved aside by Lyla, who strode boldly into the room toward Nixie, her expression so angry it could be flaming.

Cam got to his feet and sat down at another table so he wouldn't look like he was eavesdropping. He was silent in confusion when Lyla started shouting at Nixie.

"Look Nixie," Lyla snarled, "All the rest of us want is an explanation! That's all!"

Nixie's fingers trembled around her glass of water and her eyes lingered on it before she glared back up at Lyla.

"You know what Lyla?" Nixie replied, her voice shaking as her hand closed around the cup, "Alright. I'll tell you why I'm not joining you to go find the pod."

Lyla's eyebrows raised and she folded her arms, looking down at Nixie in confusion and regret.

"Why?"

Nixie lifted the glass of water closer to her other arm.

"Because I..."

Cam tensed, biting his lip hard.

"You gonna order?"Carly's demand zapped him out of his state and Cam whipped around, examining the menu hurriedly.

"Um, yes." his eyes trailed over the list of meals. His mind automatically chose his usual pancakes, but he shook his head at Carly apologetically, frantic to tune back in to Nixie's conversation with Lyla. Out of the corner of his eye he could see Sirena joining them.

"Pancakes?" Carly followed his gaze at the menu impatiently.

"No, actually. Nothing thanks."

She sighed and walked off to the back counter, chatting to David.

"You and me should totally go to the Christmas Ball together." she said to him hopefully.

"I... I guess." David responded. "I was going to go with Sirena, but she told me something's come up and she's had to go back to her old home all of a sudden." He forced a smile as Carly brightened.

"Then it's settled! You and me." she flounced away cheerily, cleaning tables with a dreamy look in her eyes.

Cam settled back down into his chair and watched the trio of mermaids. Lyla and Sirena were standing looking down at where Nixie was sitting, deep in serious conversation. Their voices had reduced volume so Cam could only watch.

Nixie argued continuously with Sirena and Lyla for what seemed like hours. Then David called for Sirena to come and sing a song, ("It's the last day I see her so I might as well do one last special song with her." David explained to Carly,) and Lyla hovered at Nixie's table, exchanging hatred looks with the other mermaid before she kicked the table and left the cafe.

Nixie's eyes averted back down to the quivering glass of water in her hand. There was clearly force extending from her fingers to the cup; obviously her mermaid powers were slightly going out of control. Or was it deliberate?

Cam tensed. He could sense something coming.

Nixie squeezed her hand around the cup, with forces so hard that it smashed into tiny pieces. The extremely loud noise sounded throughout the cafe and the shards of glass shattered all over the table and spilled off onto the floor. The water that had previously been in the cup splashed onto her fingers. The only look on Nixie's face was satisfaction. She didn't move.

Carly and David glanced up in confusion. Sirena didn't seem to notice, she was busy looking over her song lyrics.

"What happened?!" Carly ran over, scooping up the bits of glass and brushing them into the bin.

"Nothing." Nixie said flatly, looking at her wet hands blankly. Cam's eyes widened. Why isn't she running off?

Cam waited another few moments, frozen, but Nixie remained sitting in front of Carly, letting the water drip from her fingers onto the table.

Cam leapt up and ran over to the table frantically.

"Nixie!" he shouted. "You're wet!"

"Careful over here!" Carly scolded, looking up from where she tidied up the pieces of glass off the ground.

"So?" Nixie said flatly, as if she didn't have a care in the world.

Cam knew there had to be less than 5 seconds to get her out before she transformed. He leapt forward and scooped her up in his arms, dashing out the door.

"What do you think you're doing?!" Nixie screamed, writhing in his arms and slapping him in the face as he carried her toward the shore. Tiny blue sparkles were already shimmering up her legs.

He tossed her into the water the second before her tail appeared and she burst the surface, giving him a death glare before pushing off into deeper waters, deliberately slapping her tail to shower Cam with water droplets upon her exit out of his view and down into the murky depths.

Cam was completely dumbfounded at what had just happened.

Had she tried to expose herself? Shaking his head, Cam returned to the cafe and slumped down in a chair.

"Got back with her, huh?" Carly scoffed, striding past him with a bag of broken glass in her hands that wore pink rubber gloves. "Be careful - if she's holding a smoothie, retreat from the area!"

Cam ignored her and stayed slouching on the table until Carly's high pitched laughter died away as she went to the back of the cafe.

He got out of the chair again and left the cafe. He walked down the park under the trees with his hands in his pockets.

_I have to know what's going on with her,_ He thought to himself, staring up at his principal's house at the top of the hill. _And this is the only way I'm going to get answers._

XxXxX

Nixie swam through Rita's underwater cave, and surfaced in the circular pool in the dimly lit room. She kept silent, listening to Sirena and Lyla's hushed conversation in the other room.

"Of course you're not staying with her!" came Lyla's stubborn hiss. "It's Nixie's choice to wreck her own life by staying on land, and I'm not letting you do the same!"

"But Davi -"

"Shut up about David! David will get over it. You will see Aquata again when we return to the pod. Now that we have our moon rings, they'll let us stay and everything can go back to normal. Don't you want it to go back the way it was?"

"It won't be. Nixie's like a sister to me."

"So am I! Aren't I?"

No, you're not, Lyla. Nixie thought angrily. What kind of sister would just leave me by myself, to lead my own life? What kind of sister wouldn't care about any of the new things that had been introduced on land that make me want to stay? What kind of sister would be like this?

"I've had enough arguing." Sirena stepped back, starting to cry. "I don't want to do this anymore. Let's just leave. Maybe it is just Nixie's choice."

"It is." Lyla said. "Come on. We've said goodbye to Rita, we've said goodbye to Zac, we've said goodbye to David, and now all we can do is go."

Nixie dragged herself out of the water and dried off. She stood up and quickly turned herself invisible when Lyla and Sirena walked in. Nixie watched through her blurred blue vision as they dived in and swam out to sea.

Nixie released her invisibility and ran up to the bathroom. Thankfully, Rita was out at the moment, so this was a good time.

"If I'm alone, I might as well not even be alive at all." she told herself aloud. She'd already tried exposing her tail to everyone in the cafe, but Cam had stopped her, much to her annoyance. It would be great to just wreck her life and do the outrageous before she just took her own life. But that time wouldn't be soon.

Nixie had heard all about the Christmas Ball, and it would make her SO out of character to go to it in a pretty dress and - and - dance..

So she was. Not WITH anyone of course, Cam being the last on the list of bearable dates, but she was going anyway, let anyone believe anything. Nixie didn't care about her life anymore.

She entered the bathroom, swallowed her refusal and fear, and slipped a red dress out from it's hiding place in the cupboard. She'd found it in Rita's bedroom, tucked away in a dusty cupboard - clearly meant to be hidden. The dress didn't look like it would fit Rita now, but Nixie could safely guess it was from when she was a teenager.

Nixie paused holding the dress against her body and wondered about Rita. What did she look like at 17? What did she use the dress for? Was it a dance with Harry?

Nixie turned over the dress and fingered some holly leaves that embroidered one corner at the top. It was obviously a Christmas dress. Had Rita worn this on Christmas?

Awe overwhelmed Nixie and she urged to try it on.

_This is so unlike me,_ she thought with a shudder. Normally she would have tossed it away and looked for a depressing black top or a pair of jeans for the day of the ball that she WOULDN'T be going to, but Nixie discovered she had a longing deep inside, to do the things she would never have done up until a couple of months ago.

So she tried it on. It somehow fitting perfectly, and it looked amazing. The sparkling red fabric curved into her figure, and the lengths were just right and it felt comfortable in every way possible.

She looked a bit weird, wearing the ball dress but with her hair in a scrappy ponytail, so she pulled out her hair bobble and shook out her long brunette curls. Now, she looked indescribably beautiful, and Nixie couldn't help admitting it to herself.

She pulled some red and gold heels from Rita's cupboard and stumbled around in them, getting the hang of it after a while.

Next minute, she was rummaging through Rita's jewellery, placing strings of beads against her chest and holding gold earrings next to her hair. Then she was on to the makeup, trying red eye shadow, and in the process, getting some on the mirror.

She hastily wiped it off with the back of her hand and then looked at herself again.

Was this what it felt like to be a land girl? Nixie couldn't help letting her tears dribble down her face. She now felt like smashing the mirror with her fist, but she stepped back and stumbled back into Rita's bedroom.

Only to find Rita herself, frowning at the mess of her closet and the jewellery strewn across her desk and the makeup smeared on her bathroom mirror.

Nixie gasped and she toppled over on the heels, and fell flat on her face on the carpet, at Rita's feet.

"Nixie, what have you done?!" Rita exclaimed, looking her up and down.

"Rit - Rita!" Nixie kicked off the shoes and stood up, blushing in embarrassment. "I - I thought you were out?!"


	3. Chapter 3

XxXxX

Cam had never actually been to Rita's house before. Although he had listened to Zac's detailed descriptions of the mermaid grotto filled with golden treasure and seashells and mythology books surrounded by realistic cave rock and a 'moon pool' type exit and entrance to the ocean, Cam still had no idea what it was like in there - let alone the house itself disguised with land-people-made furniture and rooms.

But he wasted no time charging up to the mansion boldly and knocking on the door loudly. Nobody came to open the door for him, and he didn't even hear footsteps or any evidence that there was anyone close enough to the entrance to hear him knocking.

Cam held his breath and twisted the knob around. It was unlocked. The door creaked open, revealing a small set of stairs going up and into several hallways leading to many different rooms.

Cam entered cautiously, automatically slipping off his converse and tiptoeing up each step with exaggerated carefulness.

He finally stepped into the long hall, where many doors lined the walls obviously leading to bedrooms and linen cupboards. Cam trailed his finger across the walls, glancing at framed black and white photos that showed many images of Rita with a man Cam didn't recognize.

He studied them with interest, his mind wandering about this man and whether he knew Rita was a mermaid and what had happened to him now. Suddenly, another picture caught his eye. This one had Rita with the man again, this time they were both young teenagers - probably 16 or 17, and Rita was sitting with him on a rock next to a beach.

To any normal land person, they would see her wearing a simple looking swimming costume top - the photo was too blurred to notice anything else but Cam did. The top Rita was wearing was a scaled mermaid top, and her tail had been blurred out in the picture to mistake for legs, but Cam could tell it was a tail.

The man was right there next to her, grinning widely as she leaned on him with her arms wrapped round him shoulders lovingly.

He knew, Cam thought in amazement. He looked down to the bottom of the picture, where some words were scribbled.

'Harry. I will always remember you. x'

He died? Cam thought, his eyebrows raising. He left the picture on the wall and carried on walking down the dark hall, passing by more pictures of Rita and Harry, one even with a tiny white kitten in Rita's arms, probably Poseidon when he was a young kitten.

Up ahead there was daylight streaming in, and Cam discovered he could walk right out on the rooftop. So he did, remembering to be quiet in case there was anyone close by. Before turning around, he froze, hearing female voices deep in conversation, behind the door of Rita's bedroom and bathroom.

Cam crept over to the door and pressed his ear to the wall, eavesdropping despite his guilt for Nixie.

XxXxX

"Oh Nixie." Rita couldn't help sighing as she looked the younger mermaid up and down.

"Are you angry with me?" Nixie asked quietly.

"Yes, and no." Rita responded. "Yes, because, you've made a mess of all my things and you put on my dress without asking. I must admit to you, it has been a very valuable possession to me even though I can't even fit it anymore."

Nixie hung her head, tossing away her urge to be her old self and rebel against Rita.

"And on the other hand, I'm not angry with you, because..." Rita looked at Nixie again, a smile playing on her mouth. "Because... because, you look absolutely stunning. I wish I could have look like this at your age."

Nixie's old self turned up her nose in disgust, not wanting to look at all 'absolutely stunning' but her new personality managed a grateful smile.

"Right, but." she stammered, kicking off her high heels and lifting the necklace off. "It's... not like me. To be uh... doing this."

"But you are."

"I know, but... well..." Nixie was having trouble finding the right words. "Now that Lyla and Sirena have gone back to the pod, I feel like I shouldn't be acting like myself. I don't know how to explain it, but there are other things stopping me go with them. I'm giving in to my other side."

Nixie stopped speaking, as a familiar land boy flashed in her mind. The blond, greedy idiot who tried to take over Mako.

"It's Cam, isn't it?" Rita guessed, a guess much too accurate for Nixie's liking.

"No!" she shot back, scowling to hide her sudden pleasure at the subject of the conversation. "No! I hate him!"

"So you do." Rita said. "But like you said, you've given into your other side."

Nixie knew that Rita was right.

"I wish you could be wrong." Nixie mumbled, blinking back tears and turning around to open the door.

XxXxX

Cam jerked back as he heard the doorknob on the other side twist around. He scrambled away and shut himself in a cupboard just as Nixie opened the door. Cam realised in a split second that he couldn't fit in this cupboard. It swung open and he collapsed out in the hall, red in humiliation.

"CAM!" Nixie yelled. She also, was blushing with embarrassment.

Cam stared at her. There she was, in a dusty ball dress and smudged makeup and screwed up jewelry, her hair now sticking up in all the wrong places.

Nixie muttered some fish related swear words and rushed away and out of his sight.

"Nixie!" he called after her. "I wanted to ask you something!"

"Did I say you could barge into my house?" Rita gasped in anger, running to the photos on the walls that had been mucked about with by Cam.

"S- sorry Miss Santos!" Cam stammered, scrambling to his feet and running after Nixie.

Nixie sprinted round corner after corner, desperate to get to Rita's pool. Cam managed to get right behind her as she yanked down a mermaid book from a shelf and the walls moved apart giving her space to dash through and into the secret room.

Cam wasted no time going through after her and he stopped himself at the edge of a pool of water that rippled with the evidence of Nixie's escape.


	4. Chapter 4

XxXxX

The next morning wasn't exactly a morning to enjoy for Cam. First of all, he couldn't find Nixie anywhere. Not at Rita's house, not at the cafe, not on Mako, not anywhere Cam usually found her.

The most likely possibility was that she was invisible - a mermaid power she valued very much for her own privacy. Cam just wished he could find and confront her, ask her to the ball and let her say yes or no. All he wanted was an answer.

Like Nixie, Cam had also seemed to have lost his usual personality. Nothing humorous interested him, he never ordered pancakes at the cafe anymore, he didn't even want to be a merman anymore. All his desires revolved around Nixie. There was a new longing, a longing to be with her forever and ever.

_Am I in love? _

He debated this statement in his mind whilst walking down to the beach. He settled down to sit on the sand and look at the water. The morning sun shone on it, making the blue waves shimmer with light.

And there she was. Alone. Standing close to shore, looking out on the ocean and letting her hair whip in the soft wind. She'd changed out of the dress.

"Nixie." Cam said aloud, his voice barely audible but seemed to turn her attention. She turned around to face him, her blue eyes hardening in anxiety. She turned away and took a step closer to the water.

Cam saw some children making sand castles close by to where she stood, and a group of surfers ran down on the sand, also very close by to Nixie.

"Don't try to expose yourself again." Cam added hesitantly, standing up and brushing himself off, taking a few cautious steps toward her.

She didn't answer.

"I'm serious, Nixie. If you do that, everything bothering you will get about a million times worse."

She still stared away, her expression sad. Then he heard her voice, tiny but still an answer.

"Don't you have life guard duty at this time?"

Cam shook his head, eager to make conversation.

"Nope. I actually quit." he replied, sounding cheery.

She nodded slightly, her wisps of hair still flailing in the wind.

"Like I said before, I wanted to ask you something," Cam said slowly, expecting her to run off from him again. But she stayed where she was, allowing him to ease closer.

"Do you - do you want to come to the Christmas Ball with... me?" he asked her quickly.

Nixie gasped lightly, as he closed his hand around hers. Now her voice was louder.

"Yes! No. Wait..."

"I can leave you to think about it or-"

"No!" she shut him up finally making eye contact. "I'll go with you."

"Am I dreaming?" Cam thought aloud. He covered his mouth with his hand.

"No." Nixie responded. "Oh wait, hold on! Yes you are dreaming. Forget what I said. I'm not going with you."

She didn't run off, she just turned herself invisible. Cam watched footprints appear rapidly in the sand, trailing away and up to the footpath where he couldn't track where she was anymore.

XxXxX

"What a complete idiot I am!" Nixie shouted at herself, pacing back and forth in the moon pool cave. "I hate myself. I hate myself. I. HATE. BEING. MYSELF."

For a moment she considered picking up a rock and killing herself right then and there in the cave, where she was alone, but she halted herself by her own rules.

Instead, she broke down and cried, curling herself into a ball and letting her tears come out.

XxXxX

Cam turned to leave the beach only to bump into Zac awkwardly.

"S- sorry." Cam stammered, scrambling to his feet as Zac brushed himself off in annoyance.

"Out of my way." Zac muttered, skidding past Cam toward the water, preparing to dive in.

"Why are you so angry!" Cam couldn't help shouting after him.

Zac stopped and whipped around.

"Get away Cam. I've got to go!" Zac's eyes averted to somebody running down to the beach. Evie.

"No way hosay Zac, get away from there!" Evie yelled menacingly. "We haven't talked this through yet!"

It didn't take too long for Cam to figure out they were breaking up. He backed off while Zac and Evie argued, something about Zac wanting to join Lyla and Sirena going to the pod and Evie wanting him to go to the ball with her.

"I HATE YOU!" Evie finally closed off the argument and stormed off. She then collided with Cam.

"Sorry." she muttered, getting to her feet and walking on.

"Wait!" Cam called after her. She turned around. Cam smiled. "If you're still looking for someone to go to the ball with, I'm free..."

He expected Evie to spit at him and carry on walking off, but she softened her gaze at him and gave him a tiny nod. Then she left.

"NO!" Cam yelled at himself. "I AM SO STUPID!" he covered his head with his hands and stumbled away in the other direction.


	5. Chapter 5

XxXxX

The next night, Cam sat in his bedroom, staring at a grey suit he'd chucked down on the bed.

_Should I go, or should I not?_ he thought anxiously._ Is Nixie going, or is she not?_

His phone buzzed loudly. Cam sighed, releived to have an excuse to turn his attention away from the tuxedo and he answered the call.

"Hey Cam!" came Evie's excited voice. "Oh my gosh, you HAVE to guess what I picked out at the store! I'll either wear a green dress with all these sequins across the shoulder or this TOTALLY TO DIE FOR silver sparkly one that looks just like..."

Cam stifled a groan and managed to reply without his voice cracking.

"Gee, Evie, I don't feel at all that well tonight." he said through her continuous gossip.

"And I was wondering whether or not I should wear my diamond bracelet and - what?" Evie suddenly went silent as she processed Cam's words.

Cam tensed as he listened to the phone. Evie all of a sudden started sobbing, and then it got louder, and she started shouting.

"CAM! I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU'D DO THIS TO ME I SPENT SO MUCH MONEY ON THAT DRESS I AM SO MAD AND I'LL BET YOU'RE NOT EVEN SICK I THOUGHT YOUR SMILE MEANT SOMETHING AND BLA BLA BLA ABLA BLAB BLA BLA BLA etc"

That was all Cam heard.

_What kind of person am I, he thought angrily. I can't back out now._

"Evie!" he interrupted her. "It;s alright! I'll still go."

"Oh thank you Cam! I just know tonight's gonna be amazing."

She hung up. Cam turned off his phone and looked back at his suit.

"Great." he muttered to himself. "Just great."

XxXxX

The Christmas Ball was held in SunCoast High's school hall, which was, Nixie had to admit, huge.

"I'm such an idiot." she told herself as she walked across the school carpark in Rita's red dress and high heels and all the rest.

The half moon glinted in the black sky, giving Nixie a substitute for the usual satisfaction of the full moon effect. She didn't wear her moon ring tonight.

Slowly she neared the entrance to the building, and noticed many more girls and boys in dresses and suits - all paired off in couples. Nixie was the only one alone.

She stepped into the large hall. The room was big and rectangular, with a stage on the other end with a band playing songs. Nixie's heels made a slight tapping noise on the polished wooden floor as she entered the ball.

The whole room was decorated with green, red, gold and silver Christmas decorations and there was a huge green Christmas tree in the top right corner. A banner was strewn across the wall, displaying the words Christmas Ball.

Heads turned round to look at her briefly and turn away as she walked into the middle of the room. On the left side, there were tables with refreshments, and on the other side there was a quiet corner with nobody there.

Nixie briskly headed toward the corner, and her dress swished around as she turned and leant against the wall.

David and Carly were nearby, standing wore a pink dress with silver jewelry (How stupid is she, she's supposed to dress Christmas themed, Nixie thought in annoyance, But then again, mermaids don't celebrate Christmas so maybe pink is an appropriate color.) and David had on a simple black tux. He looked unhappy as Carly gossiped to him continuously. Obviously he wished Sirena were there.

Various other random people Nixie didn't recognize crowded in the centre of the room, already beginning to dance to the music, laughing with the person whom they were in a relationship with.

_Why did I come to this stupid thing,_ Nixie thought with a sigh. _I could easily have just done some sort of Sirena type good deed. Not being me was the aim of this but how can I possibly become happy by dancing like a land girl?_

She spotted a chair nearby and sat down in it, hesitant to make a move. That was when she saw him enter.

Cam stepped into the hall, wearing a grey suit with a red bow (Nixie would have scoffed at it and made fun of him, but she had to control herself) and Nixie thought for a split second that he might have come alone, but alas, behind him strutted Evie, wearing a long green dress with sequins and a great deal of jewelry and makeup.

Her heels were even higher than Nixie's and she looked as if she was sucking in her stomach (_fatty_, Nixie thought even though Evie was thin as a pin, _Well she's fat headed, anyway._)

But suddenly, anger sizzled inside her and tears pricked at her eyes.

_I can't do this. I give up. And it's now or never._

She stood up again and headed for the door, determined to commit suicide once and for all. Cam didn't matter anymore. Did he?

She stopped in the doorway and turned around.

XxXxX

Cam walked away from Evie, sidling toward the refreshment table. He poked at the little Christmas mince pies, zoned out in thought. A soft crying disturbed his daydream and he tensed up.

The crying continued, hardly audible, but Cam knew who it was coming from. Tears welled up in his own eyes as he looked round to where Nixie stood, in the doorway, in a wrinkled red dress and her makeup smeared around her eyes where she rubbed her own tears away.

Nixie shook her head, once, twice, three times. Then she stepped out of the doorway, outside in the cold. She began running to the docks.

Cam gasped and dropped the mince pie in his hand and knocked over a table in the process of running outside after Nixie.

Nixie ran as fast as she could, although everything seemed like slow motion in her vision. She sprinted to the beach, and clambered up on the highest rocks, falling to her knees as her dress caught under her bare feet. She stumbled on the sharp cliff rocks, scraping her hands and knees red with blood.

Thunder boomed in the sky and dark clouds drew together above her as she scrambled to her feet and kept climbing up the rocks.

Rain plummeted down on her, drenching Nixie's hair and face, until her makeup ran down her face. Her dress caught on a rock, tearing apart the soft red fabric.

"Why am I not transforming!" she screamed to herself, as more thunder boomed in the dark sky and rain bucketed down on her head as she climbed the cliff. She had to get to the top and jump. Now her powers were gone, there was no reason to live anymore.

Cam ran out across the beach, his wet hair whipping on his face and his tuxedo dripping with rain water. He stared up to the top of a dangerous rocky cliff, where he made out a small figure in a red dress clambering up to the top.

"NIXIE!" he cried out, sprinting harder than he ever had before, following her up to the top, also wounding himself on the sharp rocks. He pulled himself to the top in exhaustion, as rain and wind whipped on his face.

Nixie stood at the edge of the cliff, looking down to the death she knew she was about to experience.

"Nixie!" Cam shouted, tears in his eyes as he ran to her.

She jumped off. Nixie screamed. Cam screamed.

He jumped after her.

They shot down, pulling themselves together in the force.

Cam didn't know how it was possible, but he spoke to her while they fell.

"I love you Nixie."

"I - I love you too Cam."

And all of a sudden, a split second before they hit the deadly rocks and chopping waves, another force swept them up, faster than the speed they fell, and they landed back at the top of the cliff.

Zac, Lyla and Sirena stood there, their hands outstretched, using their powers to bring Nixie and Cam safely back on the rocks.

Everything was a mass of hugs and tears and apologies until Zac finally spoke,

"We didn't go to the pod after all. We came back, knowing something could be wrong. And now we've saved both of you from your deaths. This is so unbelievable, but I'm sorry, Cam. I'm sorry for being like I was. I'm sorry for everything."

"So are we." Lyla and Sirena repeated.

But Cam and Nixie weren't listening. They were too busy kissing.

**The End.**

**A/N: Yep. Just a bit of fun. If you're wondering why Nixie didn't transform in the rain, it's all part of her aim. She's not herself anymore. She is a whole new person, and, she loves Cam. Sorry for not going deeper into any reason why Cam wanted the trident before, and now he just wants Nixie. But it's all about romance, so who cares! If you have any questions, just review and I'll answer you quick as I can. Thanks for reading. :)**


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